First isn't best
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Whitney Chadwick's book "Women artists and the Surrealist Movement" was among the first studies of women and surrealism to catch the public's imagination. As such, it was a pioneering work and has a certain importance. However, this does not hide the fact that it is not a very good book.
At times Chadwick seems to have a half hidden agenda to rubbish Surrealism by showing how women were marginalised in the movement, but in fact she discusses mostly women who WERE marginal to the movement! The great exception is Toyen, who is discussed far less than say, Frida Kahlo, and yet who was one of Surrealism's most admired painters as well as a founder member of the movement in Czechoslovakia. Chadwick mentions the far more active role of women in Surrealism after the war, but fails to mention who they are, apparently because her work is concerned with the inter-war period, and then she goes on to discuss Remedios Varo almost entirely in terms of her post-war paintings, a period in which she was not active in Surrealism!
One can only gain a skewed and inaccurate picture of the relationship between surrealism and its female adherents from this book. It is partial, prejuidiced and frequently inaccurate. You would be much better off reading Penelope Rosemont's admittedly partisan, but very inclusive and seemingly exhaustive account "Women Surrealists" (she includes nearly 100 women as opposed to Chadwick's 6!). However, this book is still worth reading with some care as there are still so few books on the subject available.
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SUPERBLY WRITTEN AND A GREAT SOURCE
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AFTER A FRUSTRATING SEARCH FOR INDEPTH INFORMATION ON WOMEN SURREALISTS THIS BOOK WAS A STAR FIND! THROUGH HER EXHAUSTIVE RESEARCH CHADWICK HAS MANAGED TO PRESENT A VIEW OF FEMALE 'SURREALISTS'AS ARTISTS WHOSE STRENGTH LAY NOT JUST IN THEIR CONNECTION TO THEIR BETTER KNOWN MALE COMRADES, BUT IN THE EXPLORATION OF THEMSELVES AS WOMEN AND UNIQUE HUUMAN BEINGS. THIS BOOK IS NOT JUST FOR THOSE WITH AN EXISTING UNDERSTANDING OF SURREALIST RELATIONSHIPS, NEWCOMERS TO THE GENRE WILL FIND CHADWICKS HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT CLEAR. MANY OF THE TRADITION ROLES OF WOMEN IN SURREALISM SUCH AS MUSE, FEMME FATALE AND FEMME ENFANT ARE EXPLORED, BUT GREATER EMPHASIS IS PLACED ON THE LIVES AND ART OF THE WOMEN THEMSELVES, DOROTHEA TANNING, FREDA KAHLO, LEONOR FINI AND LEONORA CARRINGTON ARE JUST SOME OF THE STARS IN THIS BOOK, AND CARRINGTON PRESENTS THEM WITH A VIEW THAT IS INTELLIGENTLY RESEARCHED AND UNSENTIMENTAL. THE INCLUDED INTERVIEWS WITH SOME OF THE ARTISTS GIVE A RARE INSIGHT, AND ALLOW FOR THE VOICES OF THE SUBJECTS TO BE HEARD. THE REPRODUCTIONS OF WORKS ARE HIGH QUALITY AND SOME OF THE COLOUR PICTURES PROVED TO BE A REVELATION, SINCE I HAD NOT BEEN ABLE TO FIND THEM ELSEWHERE. IN ALL THIS IS A SUPERB READ AND A GREAT SOURCE FOR THOSE WANTING MORE THAN MOST MALE DOMINATED SURREALIST HISTORIES PROVIDE.
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